“He's without a doubt the No. 1 male in my life, ... I was a longtime minor leaguer going nowhere. I could do a lot of things like run, throw and field, but I was afraid of the curveball. ... He made me a switch-hitter.”
“I had given up my dream of going to be with the Dodgers ... I just wanted to be the best I could be as a minor leaguer. [Bragan] restored my drive, my passion, my dream to go to the big leagues, and I've loved him every since.”
“We played in the Coliseum then, that had over 94,000 people. Prior to that, the biggest crowd I played in front of was about 1,500. And if you can imagine the sound of 94,000 people chanting 'Go, go, go Maury go,' I knew I had a home.”
“I heard all the black people buzzing about this man in Brooklyn named Jackie Robinson. I asked who he was and they told me. Right then, I said, 'I want to play for the Dodgers someday.' That was my childhood dream.”
